News

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Date ArticleType
5/5/2021 Member News

Clackamas County Opts in to HBA-supported Estacada Vertical Housing Development Zone


Last month, Clackamas County participated in Estacada’s Vertical Housing Development Zone (VHDZ), joining the city’s other overlapping tax districts to provide partial tax abatement for new downtown development. This decision builds on HBA’s engagement with both jurisdictions following the release of the county’s 2019 Preliminary Housing Needs Analysis. Estacada was previously considering a construction excise tax but instead formed an HBA-supported housing committee to discuss a broad range of housing production strategies.

Vertical Housing Development Zones provide a partial property tax exemption for 10 years for qualifying projects that combine commercial and residential uses. Property tax exemptions are one type of housing production strategy pursuant to House Bill 2003, which requires systematic housing capacity analyses and the formation of specific housing production strategies to address unmet housing needs. Currently, the cities of Canby, Milwaukie, and Oregon City within Clackamas County each have an established VHDZ that allows for additional mized use housing. To learn more about HBA’s work in Clackamas County and Estacada, contact Roseann Johnson at roseannj@hbapdx.org.